Anup Joshi
Disillusionment
of Patriotism in Crane’s “Do Not Weep Maiden, For War is Kind” and Owen’s
“Dulce Et Decorum Est”
Patriotism
is generally considered as the love for one’s nation and is often glorified in
literature. But history is evident that patriotism is not any emblem of glory
but indeed is the root cause behind all the war fought and critics interpret it
as a political propaganda to deceive people. French author Jules Renard claims
that patriotism inevitably results to a destructive war, “At the bottom of all
patriotism, there is war: that is why I am no patriot” (136). This paper unmasks
the darker side of patriotism with reference to Stephen Crane’s poem “Do not
weep maiden, for war is kind”, published in 1899 as an echo to the severity of
American Civil War and Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” published
during nightmare of First World War.
Crane’s
poem is essentially an anti-war poem. By portraying war as “kind”, Crane
satirizes the conventional image of romantic war hero and exposes the absurdity
of war. The speaker further suggests the maiden who has lost her husband in
battlefield, the babe who has lost his father and the mother who has lost her
son, not to weep for their loss because of this generosity of war which in
reality is mere illusion. We find patriotism as a ruling sentiment to trigger
war in the poem. The speaker claims that “Little souls…thirst for fight” (line
6) because of “the unexplained glory” which “flies above them” (line 8). Here,
little souls are the personification of war soldiers and they are thirsty for
fight in quest of patriotic glory which is illogical and unexplained. The flag
flies above them. This suggests that flag(metonymy for government) is
omnipotent over soldiers and is flying high above them whereas soldiers fight below
on earth as directed by the State and are the one to sacrifice their life. The
soldiers are innocent and unaware about the politics of war and are solely concerned
on the patriotic glory it will bring to their country. During civil war of
America(1961-65), northerners fought southern secessionists who wanted
partition from America, for the defense of their pride and glory. The aftermath
of the war came as a loss of nearly a million casualties. The achievement of
war is nothing but the restoration of pride over the cost of huge massacre. War
ends with no avail to the common people, only politicians are to triumph over
it.
Crane’s poem presents gruesome image of battlefield. The
lover of the maiden throws his wild hand towards the sky in agony after he was
ruthlessly butchered. His horse afraid of the violence scatters away. The
father of the child whom the speaker addresses as “babe” (line12) dies by
gulping blood and “tumbled in the yellow trenches” (line 13). The yellow trenches
symbolize deathbed themselves. Similarly, the son of the mother also faces
similar fate. There is no mercy at battlefield. It is not any holy place for
preserving a nation’s dignity, but a horrible slaughterhouse for man. Women and
children were not allowed to war at that time. The leftovers of war, like
maiden, child and mother are also war victim as they are obliged to lead a
vulnerable life ahead in departure of their beloved ones. The speaker says that
heart of the mother clung on the shroud of her son vigorously like a button.
Crying and screaming, she desires to be unified with his body and detests her
son to let go. War destroys family and overall it mortifies humanity. As claims
twentieth century prominent anarchist Emma Goldman in her essay “Patriotism: A
Menace to Liberty”, “Patriotism is
inexorable and, like all insatiable monsters, demands all or nothing. It does
not admit that a soldier is also a human being, who has a right to his own
feelings and opinions, his own inclinations and ideas. No, patriotism cannot
admit of that” (106). A country does not care how its soldiers who are
fighting for patriotism feel; all they lust for is victory even at the cost of
large number of life. In the poem also soldiers die an unworthy death at
battlefield. Poet Randel Jarrel further portrays this horror of war in his poem
“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”. The speaker of the poem fights for his
country at war and when he dies he says, “they washed me out of the turret with
a hose” (line 5). For his Military Force, a turret gun is more important than
the pride of soldier. So, to clean it they wipe his flesh clung to the gun with
a hose. He is very vulnerable after death by being shot for his country. The
materialist state and government have no regard for him.
Crane portrays war soldiers as, “these men were born to
drill and die” (line 19). This statement suggests schooling and obvious fate of
soldiers. They are deceived by the politician and military leaders with the
notions of glory of war. They are made to believe that patriotism brings pride
to them and their country. A country is often referred as motherland or
fatherland and citizens are made to take their country as equal of their own
mother or father. So, if some other country attacks or insults their own
country, it is equal to attacking parents or raping one’s mother. Pro war
poetry and patriotic propaganda fill the ears of soldiers. “If I should die, think only this of me/ That
there’s some corner of a foreign field/ That
is forever England” (Brooke, line 1-3). Due to such overwhelming schooling on
patriotism, soldiers are compelled to offer their life in war. But to what
avail? That’s hard to answer.
War poet Wilfred Owen who fought for First World War and
was later killed at war further expresses the horror of battlefield in his poem
“Dulce Et Decorum Est”. The poet questions the significance of war to the
former poem by Horace who suggested dying for one’s country is sweet and
glorious. Owen in his poem portrays the pathetic condition of soldiers who were
bombarded with gas shells. After being ambushed, they are “bent double, like
old beggars under sacks” (line 1). Many of them have lost their boots and are
bloodshed. Due to the “green” (line 13) haze of gas they turn lame, blind and
deaf. They try to scramble for their protective mask to be safe from the toxic
gas, but all of the soldiers are not able to put mask in time. The speaker
watches a soldier of his crew who unable to put his mask “plunges” at him
“guttering, choking and drowning” (line 16). His white eyes are wriggling in
his face and the speaker goes on portraying his face which is miserable like a
“devil’s sick of sin” (line 20). The soldier suffers a lot and finally dies
helplessly. The speaker points that if anyone saw the brutality of war, no one
will sing the glory of war anymore. He adds that the glory of the war is just
an old lie. It is worthless to die for so called patriotism.
If
you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come
gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene
as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of
vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My
friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To
children ardent for some desperate glory,
The
old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro
patria mori”. (Line 21-28)
Owen totally denounces the propaganda of war by depicting its real
consequences which is horrific and merciless. He finds people back at home exaggerating
war with disgusting high zest. He strongly recommends them to first comprehend
the filthy imagery of battlefield prior to schooling youths of the country with
twisted romanticism of war. Critic Goldman also criticizes patriotic propaganda
of State to brainwash citizens and push them to tomb. But she claims that though
people witness the destruction of war, they do not easily withdraw from the
war. The propaganda somehow keeps working on them:
The awful waste that
patriotism necessitates ought to be sufficient to cure the man of even average
intelligence from this disease. Yet patriotism demands still more. The people
are urged to be patriotic and for that luxury they pay, not only by supporting their
“defenders,” but even by sacrificing their own children. Patriotism requires
allegiance to the flag, which means obedience and readiness to kill father,
mother, brother, sister. (102)
This justifies why Owen ,
an anti-war poet who wrote overwhelming poems against the horror of war in 1917,
still continued to fight for the First World War and was killed a year later “in
action during British assault on the German held Sambre Canal on the Western
Front” (History.com, par. 1). The poet himself was unable to denounce the
fabricated glory of war. Despite his provocative anti war poems, he went on fighting
by leading a platoon until he was shot. The propaganda of patriotism has been
throwing its omnipotent web of deceit to the citizens of any country and is
brutally victimizing them.
Coming back to Crane’s ironic poem, the use of understatement
“Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind” (line 1) is sufficient to provoke
disillusionment of war among readers. Though the speaker refers war as “kind”,
on reading later part of the poem, we come to contemplate the only side of war
which is harsh and barbaric. The use of phrase “war is kind” for five times in
the poem as refrain is to strengthen the ironical enigma of war. The speaker
further digs to the force that drives soldiers to war, “Swift, blazing flag of
the regiment/ Eagle with crest of red and gold” (line 17-18). These war
soldiers fought for their patriotism. Here, Crane unmasks the disillusionment
of patriotism. The flag which is the symbol of country and government has a logo
of eagle on it. This eagle(State) which is shining brightly, is real enemy of
the soldiers fighting in the battlefield and preys on innocent citizens for
fulfilling its apatite of imperial glory. The speaker then ironically
recommends the flag to “point for them(new recruits) the virtue(which there is
no any) of slaughter/ Make plain to them the excellence of killing/ And a field
where a thousand corpses lie” (line 20-22). It means that all the virtues and
the excellence of killings inevitably end with a battlefield where a thousand
of lives are spared. Thus, patriotism drags us to no utopia, but to a dystopian
world of death and turbulence.
To conclude, Crane ironically unveils the darker side of
patriotism in his poem, “Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind” which
contributes the world nothing but a field where thousand corpses lie. Similarly,
Owen in his poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” condemns war propagandists who by
trivializing real face of war which is bizarre and terrifying, are glorifying
hollowness of war as if fighting for one’s country is the biggest virtue. Both
the poems denounce horror of patriotism and its consequences. Patriotism and
War both converge to the same point: devastation of life and
resources. Patriotism is a mere tool for prurient politicians to trick common
people to fight in war for their own political benefit. Soldiers sacrifice
their life in battlefield and bring catastrophe to their family, all for the
sake of “old lie”, patriotism.
Works
Cited
Brooke, Rupert. “The Soldier”.
Norton Anthology of Poetry. Ferguson, Margaret, et al. 5th
ed.
New
York & London, Norton, 2005. 1327. Print.
Crane, Stephen. “Do Not
Weep, Maiden, For War is Kind”. Norton Anthology of Poetry.
Ferguson,
Margaret, et al. 5th ed. New York & London, Norton, 2005.1221.
Print.
Goldman, Emma. Anarchism
and Other Essays. New York: Dover Publication, 1968. Print.
History.com Staff. “Poet
Wilfred Owen Killed in Action”. History.com. 7th August,
2016.
Web.
<http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/poet-wilfred-owen-killed-in-action>
Jarrell, Randall. “The
Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”. Norton Anthology of Poetry.
Ferguson,
Margaret, et al. 5th ed. New York & London, Norton, 2005. 1553.
Print.
Owen, Wilfred. “Dulce et
Decorum Est”. Norton Anthology of Poetry. Ferguson, Margaret, et
al.
5th ed. New York & London, Norton, 2005.1221. 1387. Print.
Renard, Jules.The Journal
of Jules Renard. New York: Tin House Book, 2008. Web.
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